sax
/sæks/noun, verb
sax is spelled S-A-X: 3 letters and one syllable. It appears 1.4 times per million words in written English, the 23,835th most frequent word form (wordfreq, 2021 data). As a noun, sax means “Alternative spelling of zax” (English Wiktionary, September 2026). The plural of sax is saxes.
How many letters and syllables are in sax?
| Letters | 3: S-A-X |
|---|---|
| Syllables | 1 (from its American pronunciation) |
| In writing | 1.4 times per million words; the 23,835th most frequent word form |
| Wrong spellings searched | none measured in search |
Sources: letters and syllables from the English Wiktionary's hyphenation or pronunciation and the CMU Pronouncing Dictionary; written frequency: wordfreq 3.1 (a 2021 snapshot of Wikipedia, subtitles, news, books, web text and social media).
How common is sax?
Sax appears 1.4 times per million words in written English, the 23,835th most frequent word form in the list.
Source: written frequency: wordfreq 3.1 (a 2021 snapshot of Wikipedia, subtitles, news, books, web text and social media).
How do you pronounce sax?
- /sæks/
Sax has one syllable (counted from its American pronunciation in the CMU Pronouncing Dictionary).
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract). Recordings: LL-Q1860_(eng)-Vealhurl-sax.wav, LL-Q1860_(eng)-Naomi_Persephone_Amethyst_(NaomiAmethyst)-sax.wav, Wikimedia Commons (author and licence on each file's page).
Forms of sax
- saxes plural, present, singular, he/she/it
- saxing participle, present
- saxed participle, past
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
What does sax mean?
The meanings the English Wiktionary records, quoted as written there (source below).
noun
- 1
Alternative spelling of zax.
- 2
obsoleteA knife or sword; a dagger about 50 cm (20 inches) in length.
- 3
An early medieval type of machete common with the Germanic peoples.
- 4
a shade of colour similar to sky blue
- 5
Clipping of saxophone.
verb
- 1
UKTo cut or slash with a sharp instrument; incise; scarify.
- 2
To play the saxophone
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
Where does sax come from?
From Middle English sax, sex, from Old English seax (“a knife, hip-knife, an instrument for cutting, a short sword, dirk, dagger”), from Proto-West Germanic *sahs, from Proto-Germanic *sahsą (“stone chip, knife”), from Proto-Indo-European *sek- (“to cut”). Doublet of seax and zax.
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).